Middle of a Memory
by cpdfan4
Summary: Inspired by the song "Middle of a Memory" by Cole Swindell. AU Linstead one-shot.


_This OS was inspired by the song Middle of a Memory by Cole Swindell. I definitely recommend listening to it :) I don't own the song, Chicago PD, or any of the characters. Enjoy!_

 _PS – IOYO will be updated next month when I'm on break from school! Thanks for being patient with me xo_

"Kim! I cannot take another shot!" Erin shook her head, pushing the tiny glass back down the bar top.

"One more, Er! Please? It's my birthday!" Kim begged. "Take the shot or you have to go dance with that hot guy over there. He's been staring at you all night," Burgess pointed across Molly's to a booth in the corner where Dr. Will Halstead was sitting with his back to the cops. Whoever was sitting across from him, a gorgeous man whom Erin had never seen before, quickly averted his eyes down to his beer bottle when he realized Erin had caught him staring.

Erin was definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol, but she knew she couldn't have another sip if she wanted to be functional at work tomorrow. Unsure if it was the liquid courage or her stubbornness about not taking the final shot, Erin grinned and rolled her eyes. "Hot mystery man it is," she told Burgess, turning on her heel and walking over to Will's table.

"Hey Will," Erin smiled, dimples popping, as she approached the doctor's table. "I heard about the four year old boy you saved today," she dropped a hand to his shoulder, squeezing it in support.

Will was confused about why Erin Lindsay was approaching his table. While he was close with some of the detectives at 21, he and Erin really only spoke if it had to do with a case. Of course, he hadn't missed the way his younger brother was staring in her direction all night.

"Hey, Erin." Will smiled. "Yeah, it was a good day." His brother awkwardly cleared his throat across the table and Will tried not to laugh at his desperation. "Erin, this is my brother, Jay. He's new in town. Jay, meet Erin Lindsay."

"Nice to meet you," Erin smiled at the man but knew she had to cut to the chase. "So, my friend may or may not be staring at us right now waiting for us to start dancing. What do you say?"

Jay's heart began to race when this beautiful woman began to talk to him. What was wrong with him? He was never this nervous around people. He glanced to the bar behind her, where sure enough, a brunette holding a shot glass was staring intently at their table with a smug smile on her face. _Wait,_ Jay thought, _did she say dance?_ He couldn't dance. But he couldn't let this girl get away, so he nodded and stood up, ignoring the teasing look in Will's eyes.

Erin smiled at her victory and led Jay to the corner of the bar where a few other couples were swaying along to the music coming out of the old jukebox. "Thank you," she laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck to steady herself. "It was this or a seventh tequila shot."

"Well, I'm glad I sound more appealing than spending the night on your bathroom floor over the toilet," Jay winked at her and she caught the color of his crystal blue eyes for the first time as he tightened his arms around her waist.

Erin giggled. _What the fuck?_ She thought, _I don't giggle._ "So, Jay, tell me about yourself."

Jay smiled down at her as they began to sway along to the music. "Well, I just moved to Chicago from Wisconsin. I was in the army for a few years, did three tours in Afghanistan. I was honorably discharged three years ago and went to stay at my family cabin up north to clear my head. I got a job as a cop up there but didn't see much action, so I took the detective exam and passed. My brother mentioned that the city has some really good units and offered me a room at his place, so I moved down here and I'm gonna look for a job as a detective. I grew up in Chicago, but haven't been around since high school. I just got back here yesterday, actually." Jay took a breath, shocked at how easily his life story had just spilled out to a stranger.

Erin's head was spinning and she wasn't sure if it was from the alcohol, what Jay had just told her, the smell of Jay's cologne that was overtaking her senses, or just being this close to him. "Wow," she breathed. "I'm a detec-"

"Erin!" A very drunk Kim ran across the bar to the corner where she and Jay were. "Erin! We have to go!"

Erin cringed and unwrapped her arms from Jay's neck as he let go of her hips. "What's wrong?" she reached out to steady Kim.

"Adam's here! Adam's here with Wendy and we. Have. To. Go." Kim tried to whisper, but ended up yelling, tears filling her eyes.

"Okay, okay," Erin held on to Kim's arm, rubbing it up and down in an attempt to calm her. "We can go, just calm down," she said soothingly before turning back to Jay. "I'm really, really sorry. It was nice to meet you," she smiled before turning back around and leading Kim outside.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

 _Two weeks later…_

"Good morning Lindsay!" Platt looked away from the patrolmen she'd been nagging to flash a smile at the detective.

"Sergeant," Erin smiled politely as she made her way over to the stairs and scanned her palm. As the gate to the bullpen opened, she was nearly barreled down by Antonio, who was running down the stairs.

"Sorry, Linds!" he called over his shoulder as he ran into the lobby of the precinct. "Meeting someone!"

 _Weird,_ Erin thought as she made her way up to the bullpen. The first thing she noticed upon entering was that the desk across from hers, which had previously been used as a garbage; constantly covered in forgotten paperwork, old coffee cups, and remnants of paper football and spitball games, had been cleared off and given a chair. As she eyed the desk suspiciously, Voight came out of his office.

"Hey, kid," he greeted her. "Ready for a new partner?"

"What?" Erin's eyes widened as she realized why the extra desk had been cleaned. "I thought you liked me riding with you!"

"I do, you cheer me up," Voight offered her a rare smile, squeezing her shoulder. "But it's time to expand this unit. Besides, I've got my own backup." He patted the gun in his holster.

Erin sighed. She hated breaking in new partners and she'd been relieved when Voight had finally stopped trying to bring new detectives up to the unit a few months back, once he realized most people only lasted three days working under him. "Who is it now?" she mumbled, dropping into her chair and powering up her computer.

"New kid. Not a transfer. Army ranger. You'll like him." Voight said gruffly. "Antonio went to get him."

Erin rolled her eyes and stood up again, knowing she now needed another cup of coffee if she was going to make it through this morning. She made her way into the break room and was pouring herself a cup when she heard Antonio's voice coming back up the stairs. She took a long sip of the steaming liquid and braced herself before turning around to see who her new partner would be.

"Where's Lindsay?" she heard Antonio ask and knew she couldn't put this meeting off any longer. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the break room and back into the bullpen.

"Right here," she answered, looking up into a familiar pair of blue eyes. "Oh my god."

"Erin?"

"Jay?"

As the two detectives stood there, eyes locked and jaws dropped, Antonio and Voight also exchanged looks. "You two know each other, I assume?" Voight asked.

"We met the other night. He's Will Halstead's brother," Erin explained, composing herself but not breaking their eye contact.

"Perfect," Voight rasped, hopeful that for once he wouldn't have to listen to Erin complaining about a new partner. "Go show him around and get his paperwork from Platt, then." He ordered.

"On it," Erin answered with a shaky voice. "Follow me," she took off towards the locker room, Jay following close behind.

"Hi," Erin smiled nervously as she shut the locker room door behind them.

"Hey," Jay smiled back, the now too familiar butterfly feeling taking over his chest. "I had no idea…"

"I was about to tell you I was a detective… then Kim…" Erin was glad she wasn't the only one having difficulty forming coherent sentences.

"Yeah," Jay nodded, understanding. "You know what I was about to do when she interrupted?"

Erin shook her head, but she had a funny feeling she did. She could practically hear her heart beating rapidly as Jay moved closer to her. Next thing she knew, his lips were on hers in a soft, quick kiss that was over before it began.

"I haven't stopped thinking about you for the past two weeks. I asked Will to get in touch with you, but he said he thought you were involved with a fireman," Jay admitted, his forehead still touching hers.

Erin shook her head as she tried to get her heart rate back under control. "No. No. I mean, I was dating a fireman. But we broke up months ago. Will and I aren't that close. I only went over to him that night so I had an excuse to talk to you," Unable to help herself, she pushed herself back onto her tiptoes to fuse their lips together again, a little longer this time.

"This is unreal," Jay whispered against her lips as they broke apart again. He felt like the main character in some cheesy romantic movie; stuff like this didn't happen in real life. You didn't just get your dream job as easily as he did and your dream girl, who you met once for two minutes in a pub, didn't become your partner at said dream job.

Love at first sight. Was that a thing? If you had asked her that question two weeks ago, Erin would have laughed at you and said _absolutely not._ But then she was basically dared to go talk to a stranger with the most beautiful blue eyes and he'd been in the back of her mind ever since. Erin subconsciously shivered thinking back to the electricity she'd felt when their eyes had first met that night in Molly's. And now here he was in front of her again; her new partner. Fate? She hadn't thought that was a thing either.

"So now that you can't get rid of me that easily… do you want to get dinner tonight?" Jay continued, breaking Erin from her thoughts.

"I would love to," Erin smiled up at him. "We can make this work, right?"

"Oh, definitely." Jay promised, bending down to peck her lips one more time. "Now let's go get my paperwork before that scary desk sergeant gets any ideas about why we took so long to show up,"

"Platt?" Erin laughed, grabbing his hand to lead him back across the locker room but dropping it once they got to the door. "She loves me, you'll be fine," she turned around to wink at him before leading him back through the bullpen and down the stairs.

"Hey Sarge," Erin smiled as the new partners approached the desk. "This is my new partner, Jay Halstead. We need to get his paperwork set up for the palm scanner."

"Chuckles?" Platt raised an eyebrow at the man. "If I'd have known you were my girl Erin's partner I would've at least called you _Detective_ Chuckles. Sorry about that." The older women slid a form towards him. "He also needs to go to the shooting range, if you wanna take him down there," she nodded to Lindsay, flashing the detective a smile.

"On it. Thanks, Platt." Erin smiled back before motioning for Jay to follow her out of the lobby. "See? She's harmless." Erin said to him once Platt was out of earshot.

"Why does she like you so much?" Jay asked, confused. She'd nearly bitten Antonio's head off when Jay and Antonio had gotten to the district that morning.

Erin shrugged. "Just something about me,"

"Just something about you," Jay repeated, shaking his head. When he'd agreed to move to Chicago, he'd expected to be in the job hunt for months, maybe snag a gig with Narcotics or something. He had never expected to be offered a job in the best unit in the city within weeks. When he'd agreed to go to Molly's with Will that night, he'd expected to have a beer, maybe meet some of Will's doctor friends. He'd never expected to meet a beautiful mystery girl. And when he'd accepted the job offer in Intelligence, he'd never expected for this beautiful mystery girl to also be a detective and to become his partner – and maybe more. Because there was just something about her.


End file.
